User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-04 12:15
Subject:
Security:	Public

75 years ago tomorrow, Prohibition ended in the US.

Good thing PeaPod is delivering a large bottle of rum along with the rest of my groceries tonight!

Also, Jack & Ellis has been updated with the first portion of Chapter 38. Ellis is irrational, Jack is restrained, and Purva gets what she wants.

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-04 10:05
Subject:
Security:	Public

So, there were a couple of errors in the Christmas ornaments (egregiously, the Arabic was backwards *facepalm*).

I've made some corrected sheets but haven't yet updated the PDF file or the original post. You can find the new sheets below, just right-click and save-as.

Hooray for PROPERLY SPELLING SCHADENFREUDE.

English:
Sheet One
Sheet Three
Sheet Four

Foreign Language:
Sheet Two

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-04 07:55
Subject:
Security:	Public

Ahahaha. Oh, Dad, if only you knew how ironic your email to me this morning was.

Dear Sam,

I know you blog often, so be careful! There is a new website danger out there:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/New_hacking_method_threatens_web_users

Keep safe! Don't get hacked!

Love,
Dad

I was pretty wary the first time I met Lucky (he's my stepfather) but he is a Good Dad.

Not that this link would have helped me not get hacked, so it's not like his timing is actually off, but still. "Don't get hacked!" is so...cheery and upbeat. Bless 'im.

	User:	celandine
	Date:	2008-12-03 23:10
	Subject:	Miscellany, good and bad
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	distressed

( The good )

( The bad )

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-03 20:40
Subject:
Security:	Public

LOL, man, POLL CONTROVERSY. Or, in the case of real trees, contreeversy.

pocketmouse mentioned that they never take their fake tree down, just decorate it seasonally -- which I think is awesome, but I decided that if I were going to do something like that it would be something less prone to stab me with fake plastic needles.

Do you know, I don't actually own a Wildebeest of any kind? Though I'm very tempted to buy the deconstructible one. Kids: here is a gift for you to dismember!

So, when I finally get round to inventing Sammastide (also known as Christisn'tspringhereyetmas), it will involve traditional turducken dinner -- pizza also acceptable -- and the decorating of the Wildebeest, right before they hand out plastic scythes to the kiddies and play Who's Going To Lose An Ear.

ALSO: GIP. twirlynoodle made it for me. Because I am captain of the safety, and have the sexy orange hat to prove it.

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-03 17:46
Subject:
Security:	Public

YEAH BABY.

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-03 12:39
Subject:
Security:	Public

I AM the best brother ever!

I bought Emmy a funky necklace as a parentally acceptable Christmas gift and also this weird otaku-j'punk video game about assassins that she will undoubtedly have to wait until our parents are out of the house in order to play. It is the perfect cool-older-brother gift and might also be good career training should she choose a lucrative life of high crime.

YOU HAVE ACHIEVED: SHOPPING FOR ADOLESCENT SISTER
YOU WIN: SIBLING STREET CRED +20

Now I have to figure out what to buy Mama Tickey. This is potentially just as difficult, but way fewer cool points are at risk.

	User:	celandine
	Date:	2008-12-02 22:31
	Subject:	Eeeee!
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	bouncy

A totally unexpected gift arrived from westernredcedar - a set of magnets with the names of eleven Hogwarts professors. SO COOL. I'm going to take them to work and put them on my filing cabinet there... Thanks, hon! I love them!

Let me see, in other news-of-the-day I did six loads laundry, took my mom to the airport, gassed up the car, bought stamps, exchanged faulty lights at Target and bought a few other things, made cranberry bread (office party tomorrow), made turkey cottage pie for tomorrow, made turkey madeira for tonight, printed out some stuff for class tomorrow (though haven't read it), made some though not all of the needed posts for a class, walked Juno, and a few more minor things around the house. So fairly productive although I didn't do much professional- or school-wise. But I have to go to campus an extra day this week, so it's okay I guess.

Oh, and I have 750 words on my Yuletide fic, so go me!

	User:	daily_snitch (posted by ziasudra)
	Date:	2008-12-02 22:48
	Subject:	The Daily Snitch: Tuesday, December 2, 2008
	Security:	Public

Happy Birthday, Alfie Enoch (Dean Thomas)!

• Actors and Movies: Dan Radcliffe on Inside the Actors Studio
  
  Dan Radcliffe's Equus jeans raise $800
  
  "Half-Blood Prince" Trailer Named a Top Trailer of 2008
  
  
• Challenges: catchmysnitch posts its December Challenge: Fairy Lights!
  
  do_me_veela is now open for claiming prompts.
  
  Prompt claiming is now open at hp_crackdealers.
  
  Signups are now open for hp_spring_fling.
  
  snapeartcontest announces its December Memes.
  
  snapedom holds its December Challenge: Severus and Harry Potter.
  
  
• Community: hpfandomrec is a new Harry Potter fandom rec community.
  
  
• Discussions: jamie2109 discusses commenting for fest stories and art.
  
  penknife writes On holiday ficathon feedback.
  
  pir8fancier posts about fest, commentary, and self-worth.
  
  
• Fests: ( Lots of holiday fests have begun posting! See them under the cut! )
  
  
• Hot Art: The Death of Narcissa Black, by Anonymous for hp_darkfest (eventual Narcissa/Lucius, hard R, see warnings)
  
  
• News: US Borders Stores to Hold "Beedle the Bard" Release Parties December 4
  
  "We Are Wizards" Releases DVD
  
  
• Search: daily_snitch is looking for fan works and resources featuring Minerva McGonagall.
  

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-02 21:12
Subject:
Security:	Public

Mum and I amuse each other.

She sends me random packages, but I get my own revenge of a sort. I sent her my Christmas list today, and she apparently had much LOL over it. It's short, because I don't have many needs that aren't being met right now. I asked for an Italo Calvino book, something from the CTA gift shop, a Wii game ("I like puzzles, and adventure, but not a lot of explosions and guns, maybe something like Zelda?"), a PeaPod gift card, and a magnetic poetry set. Apparently last year's list actually got passed around her office for the amusement of the masses. Not that I can blame her.

Otherwise all is mostly quiet. I was writing a little tonight and wrote the phrase "it was a constant silent defiance that made him glad he'd never had teenagers" and then thought that looked stupid so changed it to "he'd never tried raising kids" and then thought that wasn't quite right, so I started to delete it. But I clicked in the wrong place and ended up with "it was a constant silent defiance that made him glad he'd never tried raisins."

THE RAISINS. THEY DEFY ME SILENTLY.

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-02 14:40
Subject:
Security:	Public

Man, winter showed up on Monday and settled in. No lead up, no warning, just all of a sudden WINTAAAAAAR.

It's snowy here, and what my best friend in undergrad used to call "buttfuckin' cold". I'm not sure if that was an indication of what kind of sex was required to warm up, or some kind of metaphor, or maybe she was comparing the pain of being outside to surprise buttsecks. But it seems apt, on some primal level.

I have christened the steps of my new building by falling on my ass on the ice this morning, so that's over with.

In other news and for grate internet linkage:

dramaturgca pointed me this morning to The Ultimate Geek Crossover, Star Trek characters done up in steampunk.

I've been meaning to post this for a bit: abigail_nicole, at the behest of an anonymouse on my journal, has created a Sam's Cafe group on Ravelry, for cafegoers who do things with yarn. Go ye forth and purl, or something. :D

And finally, juniper200 tossed me a story wherein John Barrowman's peen is so powerful that even though he only took it out on the radio, the radio, the BBC has been forced to apologise for him exposing himself. I can only imagine that his cock somehow came through the radio speakers and earfucked some poor asshat who bitched because he was ashamed of how much he enjoyed it.

	User:	celandine
	Date:	2008-12-02 14:01
	Subject:	Two weeks of fic roundup
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	calm

Wow, I fell way behind on posting these links. Sheesh. Now that I'm into the holiday drabble-postings, though, I think I'll only do this every several days.

• Better the Instruction (17/22) [Teddy/Andrew, Remus/Sam, adult]: Teddy enjoys Christmas with Andrew, Remus, and Sam, and persuades Andrew to go to Harry's traditional Boxing Day party, despite Andrew's misgivings. Here at IJ.


• Better the Instruction (18/22) [Remus solo, Remus/Teddy, adult]: Remus finally gives Teddy his fifth lesson. Here at IJ.

• Distraction [Narnia: Edmund]: Edmund is trying to finish a Latin assignment. Here at IJ.


• Outdone [PotC: Jack, Elizabeth]: What really irritated Jack when he and Elizabeth were cast away. Here at IJ.


• Christmas Surprise [HP: Charlie/Neville]: Neville gets a surprise parcel on Christmas morning. Here at IJ.


• Sororal Affection [Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice: Georgiana, Elizabeth, Fitzwilliam]: Georgiana doesn't want to go to London. Here at IJ.


• Nip and Tuck [Swordspoint: Katherine, Artemisia]: Katherine would rather be practical than fashionable. Here at IJ.


• Great Expectations [HP: Ginny/Neville]: Molly may be an expert cook; Ginny, not so much. Here at IJ.

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-02 10:54
Subject:
Security:	Public

Hey, so remember my teeny tiny Christmas tree? I asked you guys for words to make into Christmas ornaments, and you...certainly did oblige.

It's time for SAM'S READ AND LEARN CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT EXTRAVAGANZA.

I figured since I'm probably not going to use very many of them (see: Mum sending me a fuckton of ornaments) I would turn all the words you gave me into ornaments and set them loose on the internet to see what they may wreak. I made three tree-toppers, two garlands, and several pages of ornaments of varying sizes. All are laid out onto American standard 8.5x11 paper, most in Landscape orientation, so they should print on American paper fine and on A4 paper with some rather excessive margins.

If you look at these pages and don't see your word, drop me a line and I'll add it in -- there's a little space left over specifically for words I may have inadvertently missed.

A preview, with sized-down versions of the final pages, is available ( under the cut! Image-heavy, fair warning. )

There are a couple of ways to acquire these pages. For people who just want to print 'em out, there is a PDF file available from Sendspace (megaupload mirror here). If you'd like to fuck around with the JPGs, there's a completed zip file also available from Sendspace (megaupload mirror here). Or you can go to my Livejournal Scrapbook and download single images if you just want one specific page.

Crafty tips:
For all pages, I'd recommend either printing them on card stock or gluing regular printouts to card stock (if you want the ornaments to hang around -- HA, see what I did there? -- for a while, I would use acid-free spray adhesive) before cutting them out. When I make paper ornaments I often glue the backs to construction paper, which adds some colour. Little kids think this is MAGIC. How is the paper two colours at once?

For the garlands, you can punch holes in each letter and tie them together with string, but that gets time-consuming. Easier is to glue the letters along a strip of ribbon or onto the links of a paper chain.

For the tree-toppers, I'd recommend gluing a bit of wire between the topper and its backing, then twisting the wire into a coil that you can settle over the top of the tree. Or, only glue the very edges of the topper and backing together, like a seam, leaving the bottom open. Then fit the pocket that creates over the tree. With the Doctor Who topper in particular you could probably also make the bottom word into a circle, glue it together, and settle it on the tree.

But, you know. It's your art! Go to town, do what you want, have fun.

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-12-02 09:10
Subject:	Book Review: The Great Pretenders, by Jan Bondeson
Security:	Public

I am reading a lot more since I found out that I can special order books to be sent to my branch library. :D

I don't know how I actually came across The Great Pretenders, though it may have been one of those books I grabbed off a shelf or a display at the library because it looked interesting. It's subtitled The True Stories Behind Famous Historical Mysteries, and it's written by a doctor who takes a decidedly medical, scientific approach to some of the "Pretenders" of history -- people who have claimed, or been acclaimed as, royalty and nobility who died years before. Jan Bondeson has written a handful of books in a similar vein, exploring medical mysteries and the psychological roots of live burial, among other things.

The Great Pretenders presents the historical facts of various cases of assumed identity, then delves into rumour and gossip, then returns to fact with an assessment of the proofs and sometimes DNA testing to settle the question once and for all. It explores the mystery of the missing Dauphin who, on his father's death, became Louis XVII; the true identity of Kaspar Hauser, whom some saw as a European prince; the connection between a Russian Tsar and a hermit in Siberia; two people claiming noble blood that they might not have a right to; and whether or not an eccentric English nobleman posed as a cabinetmaker in the late 19th century.

( The Review. )

Final Verdict: If you're interested in history or in the techniques used to debunk popular historical myth, it's a good read and reasonably fast. You can skip the bits that bore you and not lose much along the way, and certainly I'd never before read about most of these people so it was definitely an education. Worth a fetch from the library or a purchase in a second-hand shop; I wouldn't buy it at full-price, but a bigger history buff than I am might not think it was money wasted.

Aaaaand ( Quotes! )

	User:	daily_snitch (posted by padme_kenobi)
	Date:	2008-12-01 23:57
	Subject:	The Daily Snitch: Monday, December 1, 2008
	Security:	Public

• Actors and Movies: Tom Felton talks Malfoy Manor, Draco and his father Lucius Malfoy, and more in new interview
  
  Bonnie Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson & David Thewlis attend award shows
  
  Dan Radcliffe's "Equus" jeans raise $800 (updated)
  
  Scans from German HBP calendar include Luna and Harry in party attire
  
  Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters nominated at Satellite Awards
  
  Dan Radcliffe appearance on The Story of the Costume Drama
  
  Video: Dan Radcliffe talks Half-Blood Prince move & Deathly Hallows epilogue
  
  Alan Rickman on life after Harry Potter
  
  
• Communities: Prompt claiming is now open at drapery_snarco
  
  twoseekers is hosting an informal Harry/Cedric holiday fic exchange
  
  lupin_snape has the December Theme search
  
  
• General Interest: Arthur Levine comments on "Beedle the Bard"
  
  acari describes how to protect your journal/community from hackers
  
  Whimsic Alley to host "Tales of Beedle the Bard" midnight gala
  
  Harry Potter still most popular books among college-aged students
  
  
• News: USA Today previews "Tales of Beedle the Bard"
  
  Rumor Alert: More on possible LEGO Harry Potter video game
  
  Hollywood auction includes signed Harry Potter books
  
  
• Searches: daily_snitch is looking for fanfic, fanart, communities and resources featuring Minerva McGonagall

	User:	celandine
	Date:	2008-12-01 21:46
	Subject:	*thud*
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	relieved

Paper finished and submitted for the one class, and I checked and found I still have three days to do the last of my blog posts. *whew*

Which is good, because I have a ton of stuff to do tomorrow, some RL and some prep for the other LIS class for Wednesday (when I will be a faux interviewer). I should be able to make a couple of the posts each day.

	User:	celandine
	Date:	2008-12-01 15:42
	Subject:	GAH.
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	cranky

Okay. I've reformatted so that it's double-spaced and all that good stuff, to see where I'm at; I have two more pages to write on this paper now. Maybe 600 words? It does still need a conclusion...

*think think think*

And I also need to make several more blog posts for the class, too. Also by tonight, I think, although I may have already gone over deadline on those... don't have the due dates handy here.

	User:	celandine
	Date:	2008-11-30 22:03
	Subject:	*tears hair*
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	panicked

I'm about halfway finished with this paper on copyright, specifically on what issues would relate to a particular digital collection (not an extant one, one that I proposed creating). Due tomorrow. But I have run out of ideas of what to include! I feel like I've covered what I wanted to cover, it just didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. ARGH ARGH ARGH. And what I have down is not very well organized, either.

*hates self, hates life, hates frigging holidays with visitors who eat time*

It's not that I don't like having my mom visit, I do, but I was never able to get far enough ahead to be able to juggle spending time with her and getting classwork done... so I feel like I shortchanged her AND haven't finished... GAH.

	User:	daily_snitch (posted by titti)
	Date:	2008-11-30 20:12
	Subject:	Special Edition: Oliver Wood
	Security:	Public

• Art:
  
  ( Gen )
  
  ( G to PG-13 )
  
  
  ( R and NC-17 )
  
  
  Fics:
  
  ( Gen )
  
  ( G and PG )
  
  ( PG-13 )
  
  ( R and NC-17 )
  
  
• Resources:
  
  - The Enormous Master List of All Percy/Oliver Fic
  - weasleys_wood - Percy/Oliver
  - draco_oliver
  - roughquidditch - Flint/Oliver
  
  If you have more art or fic that you will like to see posted, please leave a comment here.
  
  Previous editions can be found at Live Journal, InsaneJournal and JournalFen

User:	copperbadge
Date:	2008-11-30 12:49
Subject:
Security:	Public

I have cleaned my desk! I found two credit cards, $17.45, and many coupons. I have scanned all there was to scan, and I really should do a Photo Update soon but I have to clean out my "Current Photos" folder first. Getting to be time to make my photo yearbook, too (and print out last year's). I like the photo books; they're a slim, pleasant way of documenting the year. Walgreens does them up nicely and for about the same cost as anywhere else.

I now have neat piles of "Stuff that needs to go into a poster frame", "Stuff I need to deal with tomorrow", and "Bookmarks". I put old cards and letters into books, which is a habit Mum got into so that now, when I go home, occasionally I'll take down a book from the shelf and find a letter from Gran in it. It's rather nice, though after Gran died Mum didn't go near the books for a few weeks. Makes sense.

I have done laundry and taped my rent check to the doorknob so that I can't leave without remembering to put it in the Rent Check Box downstairs. I was going to do some Christmas shopping online today, but stupid Windows 2008 saved my shopping list as a ".docx" file and docx is apparently not backwards compatible, since I can't open it in OpenOffice or import it into GoogleDocs. I don't know what I've bought for whom! CHAOS!

I also hung up a curtain over my kitchen door window so now, if I want, I can cook naked. :D It's a typical work-with-what-ya-got curtain: two nails, a bit of picture-hanging wire, and half a shower curtain with holes cut in it (the other half is hanging in front of my bathroom window, blocking the draft). The place is sealed up pretty tightly, which is nice.

I spoke to Mum about staying here for a couple of years and she thinks it's a good idea; the housing market may be ripe for the picking but I need to build some credit and frankly I like it here, plus I got the parental stamp of approval for it in terms of location and setup. Hilariously, when she arrived, she oohed and ahhed over my hardwood floors and then immediately started measuring EVERYTHING -- counters, windows, floor space -- for various improvements.

I think she's really come round to the idea of me living in Chicago, which is nice. We could both wish that she lived a little closer, but you can't have everything and anyway she's the one who decided to move to Texas. :D